Disney firefighters take case for new contract to company's hand-picked leaders

Just how independent are the elected leaders in Walt Disney World's company-controlled government? The firefighters who protect the resort are about to find out.

Locked once again in a protracted contract dispute, the Reedy Creek Fire Fighters Association will this week take its case the five-member board of supervisors that oversees the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the obscure agency that handles government services for Disney's giant Central Florida resort.

During an open-to-the-public meeting Friday morning in the district's gleaming headquarters on Hotel Plaza Boulevard, the Reedy Creek supervisors will be asked to choose sides in the stalled contract talks between the firefighters and the district's administrators.

It will be the first time in 40 years that negotiations have ended up in front of Reedy Creek's governing board. But union leaders say they are not especially optimistic.

"I can't walk the streets and get these guys elected. So why would I expect a fair hearing?" said Tim Stromsnes, president of the union.

It is yet another reminder of the contradictory nature of Reedy Creek, a public government that is able to sell tax-free bonds and issue building permits but which is controlled by a single, private entity. Reedy Creek board members are chosen in elections where voters get one vote for every acre of land they own in the district — and Disney owns two-thirds of the acreage.

Bill Warren, a former Disney executive who is now Reedy Creek's district administrator, said he expects the board will be a neutral arbiter.

"It's a situation where there needs to be some 'next level' in order to appeal. And I think our board is historically pro-employee," Warren said.

The contract talks, which have dragged on for more than a year, have boiled down to two issues: insurance and picketing.

The previous contract required Reedy Creek to cover a certain percentage of the combined health-insurance premiums for its employees. But the union says district managers have structured the contribution levels among the various insurance options in such a way as to drive workers into high-deductible plans that are cheaper for the district to cover.

The firefighters want the district to both raise its overall contribution levels — and to bargain contribution levels for the individual plans, rather than for the aggregate amount only.

District administrators have countered that the union's changes would ultimately lead to a mass migration of workers into the most-expensive insurance options, which could increase Reedy Creek's insurance costs from $4.3 million a year to $5.5 million a year — assuming every employee made the switch.

They have offered to raise their contribution levels — by a smaller amount than the union is seeking — but want continued freedom to determine how their contributions are allocated between plans.

Also unresolved: The fate of a longstanding ban in previous contracts that prohibits firefighters from picketing anywhere at or near the district — and, by extension, anywhere at or near Disney World. The provision was apparently negotiated decades ago, after firefighters staged a protest on the road leading into Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park.

The firefighters say the ban has left them virtually powerless in negotiations because, as a public-employee union, they are also forbidden by law from striking.

While both sides have agreed to narrow the picketing restriction, the union is seeking a blanket ban on anything that limits an employee's rights "under the First Amendment" of the U.S. Constitution. The district has offered a narrower guarantee, allowing firefighters the right to picket or distribute handbills — as long as the demonstrations do not "interfere with the business operations of the district or its taxpayers."

Disney pays roughly $9 of every $10 in property taxes that Reedy Creek collects. A spokesman for the resort said Disney has not made any recommendations to Reedy Creek managers about the negotiations.

Donald Greer, Reedy Creek's board president, said the firefighters will get a fair hearing Friday.

While all of the board members owe their seats to Disney — which temporarily grants each of them five acres of land to make them eligible for Reedy Creek elections — Greer said the absence of campaigns and competitive elections is also an advantage for all involved.

"It's not a political organization. That almost by definition makes it more fair than most everything else," said Greer, who has been a Reedy Creek board member since 1975.

"We're elected to do a job," he added. "If they [Disney officials] don't like us, they can kick us out."